Some readers may recall that Loyola LA took a plunge last year, when their academic reputation score dropped from 2.6 to 2.3, something which almost never happens. It turned out the explanation was simple: U.S. News stopped listing the school by the name everyone in the academy knows it by--Loyola Law School, Los Angeles--and simply listed Loyola Marymount University. After last year's fiasco came to light, U.S. News agreed to list the school for purposes of this year's survey as Loyola Law School again and, lo and behold, its reputation score was 2.6 this year.

If such apparently trivial alterations can affect results so significantly, how much confidence should one have in the reputational results?